Educators See ‘Following the Leaders’ as Helpful

But Not All Schools Are Embracing the Web-based Tools With Equal Enthusiasm

Belle, W.Va.

Sophomore Stacey Hodge knelt before a computer at Riverside High School here and prepared to put Following the Leaders to work. Viewing a list of English skills her teacher had planned for her to review, Ms. Hodge said the computer programs were helping her pass her courses.

“At the beginning of this year, I was failing this class,” she said. Using the computer programs provided by Following the Leaders helped her see things differently: “I pay attention more to what’s going on.”

Schools in West Virginia’s 28,500-student Kanawha County district, which serves the state capital of Charleston and surrounding communities, are putting Following the Leaders to use on a regular basis. Superintendent Ronald Duerring has mandated, in fact, that all 69 public schools use the package of tools provided by Following the Leaders, a federally financed project of the Washington-based Education Leaders Council. He’s so supportive that he said he would find ways to pay for the program, which is provided free,...